Thanks to our Incredible Launch Team

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Grateful

It's Thanksgiving and there's so much we have to be grateful for.

Last Sunday was our seventh week of holding our worship gatherings. The spirit has been great and it is apparent by both the new faces that we’re seeing and the comments we are receiving that God is moving and building His church. A week ago, we had 82 people (our highest attendance) so far. We have had 30 new visitors and several have asked how they can get involved.

Last Saturday, we delivered 27 Thanksgiving meals to 27 different needy families living near our meeting place. It was amazing the opportunities we had to build relationships and share God’s love with these people.

Last Friday, I had the final meeting with our finance team and we put together a working budget. Money is going to be extremely tight! We still have several items that we need to have donated or purchased before we can move forward with our public launch that we are tentatively planning for March. Yet God, shows His faithfulness as a couple of weeks ago, a church planter that I didn’t even know, happened to “by chance” look at my website and saw that we were trying to find a trailer. As it turns out they are no longer in need of their 16-foot trailer come January. They told us we are welcome to use it. I was moved by their generosity and Kingdom-mindedness! God is so Amazing and continues to show His faithfulness!

I’m currently in the process of thinking through starting small groups. I want to be wise about doing this right. Please pray for me that I will do this in God’s timing and with His wisdom. Also that all of the components and people needed would come together to make this happen.

On December 6^th, I’m excited to have Jennie Kintner, one of our launch team members share her first message with Epic. Jennie is a very gifted communicator and I'm looking forward to hearing her share! We are planning to have her join the speaking rotation once a month. On December 13^th we are planning to have a special Christmas Worship Gathering and this should be a really wonderful time.

Prayer Requests:

· God’s Financial Provision and Wisdom in Stewardship. We need about $50,000 worth of capital expenditures.

· God will continue to use us and expand our impact in our community.

· I need God’s Wisdom and Strength as I lead the church.

· I need God’s wisdom, timing and effectiveness as I look to start small groups.

· God will continue to build His church and that we wont get in the way.

· God’s provision and protection will be on our families.

· Endurance as we recognize that this is a marathon.

This Sunday!

The time is finally here! This Sunday evening we will officially begin holding our first worship gathering. This is our first stage of our 2 stage launch. We are so grateful for the people of First United Methodist Church who allowing us to use their facility. They have been an incredible blessing to work with and they really have heart for the Kingdom. We will be meeting in their Fellowship Hall on Sunday evenings starting this Sunday...YEAH! They are also allowing us to use their equipment and children's ministry space. Thanks for all of you who have been praying with us to find this place. God is Faithful!

Below are some other praises and prayer requests:

Praises:

• We have a place to store our trailer (when we get a trailer). Answer to prayer!
• We have a great location to meet for our services. Thanks for praying about this.
• We have an incredibly committed launch team!

Prayer Requests:

• We have our first official worship gathering (Soft launch) this Sunday Night! Please pray that God will move in a mighty way and that He will Glorified and the lives will be changed.
• Pray that we will remain wise stewards with our resources and time.
• That people who are far from God, will become fully devoted followers of Jesus as a result of this ministry.
• God will continue to protect our hearts, bodies and minds.
• That more and more of the right people will come to join our team over the next several weeks.
• God will give me His words this Sunday as I preach.
• We need people with a passion for children to come and help us out (like most churches:)
• That we will continue to build relationships and meet needs of those living in and around South Mishawaka.

Thank you for all of your prayerful support!

God's Hands

I want to give you an encouraging update.

We are really close to declaring our official meeting sight for our October 11th launch. This Wednesday I will be able to officially make that location known. Please pray as we make this final decision.

This morning I met with a local business man and he knows of someone that may have a place that could work for an office space for us. It is not currently being used and would need some handy work done on it, but it would have three rooms and a conference room space. It would be an ideal location if it works out. Please join with us and pray that this would work out for us.

This is a portion of an e-mail sent out to our launch team from Kim Selis one of our launch team members and local outreach coordinator at Epic:

“We were able to deliver 24 packs of groceries to families in need. Each "pack" contained one bag of frozen food, one bag of non-perishable items, one bag of bread items and one gallon of milk! It was truly amazing to see!

Many opened their doors to us and shared prayer requests, some, while it seemed they had need, felt that their neighbors needed the food more and sent us there, some were just thankful for the food.

There were doors opened for us to return. We were able to take prayer requests from these homes and we prayed together as a team for those requests and will continue to pray and follow up with them.

The group also loaded up, after the delivery and went to one of the homes to help a woman, who had fire damage. The men worked to unhook her stove and get it out to the trash and the women (and children) wiped down walls and the bathroom.”

I drove away from this neighborhood overwhelmed with emotion as I was just so proud of our team and the way they are allowing God to use them to “get their hands dirty” and Live Out His love to this community.

From there I drove to one of our other outreaches that one of our launch team members was leading that afternoon. Peter Metzger who is a senior at Bethel College was hosting the Epic Skate Invitational at Bethel College. People from all over drove in and were able to take part in this event and then were made aware of a new church coming to South Mishawaka. They were given our information and it turned out to be a great day.

The details are coming together in God's timing and we are remaining dependent on His leading. Please continue to pray with us for the following:

• God would use us to meet needs in our community and develop ongoing relationships.
• God would give us discernment on a location for our stage 1 launch this Oct.
• God would would provide us with an office space and storage space for our trailer.
• God will protect our hearts and minds and that we will continue to abide in Him!

I remain humbled to reflect on God holding us in His hands, while inviting us to be His hands.

Abiding in Him!

After much prayer and counsel we have decided to go with a 2 stage launch. Our first launch will take place in a church and we are still targeting that to take place on Oct. 11th. However, this will be more of a word of mouth launch that will be intended to help us build up the launch team and save up finances for a few months (we are trying to save up close to $60,000 to purchase portable equipment). On March 7th we are planning to do our public launch which will take place at Meadow's Edge Elementary School.

Last night I met with our launch team and it seemed important for us to stop and use our meeting time for prayer. We took time to remind ourselves that it is God who must build His church and that all of our strategies and planning are meaningless without His empowerment. John 15:5 has been in my mind all week long. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." I challenged the team to double their prayer focus in the coming weeks prior to our launch. I shared with them that in order for us to be fruitful we have to be tapped in and know HIS power.

Despite the enemy's attempts to thwart us from the mission we continue to see God's Hand. Our team remains committed and we are continuing to grow. We now have 33 adults and 31 children on our launch team (and we are still seeking more)! We had $16,000 come in last month despite having several of our families struggling to find work. We are so grateful for our outside partnerships (churches and friends) that are faithfully giving towards this church plant. We can't thank you enough!

God is amazing and it is our deep desire to abide in Him and to walk in accordance to His leading. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Below are some ongoing prayer requests:

• God will protect our hearts and minds.
• We will remain steadfast on our mission of living in and living out God's love as we seek to reach people that are far from God.
• God will provide us with the right meeting space for our Oct. 11th launch.
• God will continue to meet our financial needs (both for Epic and our individual families).
• Physical and relational protection on our families.
• That we will abide in Him and as a result He will make us fruitful.
• That we will have victory over the ongoing attacks from the enemy.

Josh...and stuff!

There’s so much to share with you. We have made an update video that I would invite you to check out at: http://www.epicmishawaka.org/Epic/Video.html

We have had a huge answer to prayer. As many of you know, I have been praying a great deal for administrative help. Recently one of our launch team members, Josh Yoder, quit his very good paying job in a management position because it ended up interfering with his commitment to the Epic Launch Team on Sundays. Josh is a recent graduate from Purdue University and has his degree in Business management. In hearing this, it seemed to me that perhaps God’s person for the position was already on our team. He has the skill, I know him and his heart (as a former student in my youth ministry), He believes and is deeply committed to the vision at Epic and he’s somebody I could work with. Finally, the big test was when I told him that he would need to raise his support and work a part time job, as Epic would be unable to pay him. After praying about it and seeking Godly counsel, he came back and said that he thought God was in this, and that he was ready to take another step of faith to become the Intern for the Director of Administration while raising his support to do so. As of late this last week we confirmed and finalized the decision and Josh is officially on board. This is a huge blessing and answer to prayer! Please be praying with Josh, as naturally a step like this can be unnerving and yet very rewarding. Please pray for God to honor his step of Faith and obedience and that Josh’s needs would be met.

Please be praying for the following:

· I am going tomorrow to meet with the principal for the school. We will be talking about ways that we can partner with the school. Additionally we will talk about a rental agreement in that school. Please pray that everything would go smoothly for this.

· Please pray for unity in our team and within our partnering churches.

· Pray that I will have incredible wisdom and discernment to lead.

· Please pray for us as we continue to try and be Christ to our community.

· Pray for God's hand of protection to be on our hearts and families.

 
· Please pray for God to bring more people to our launch team.

· Pray that God will supply all our needs. 

· Please pray that God will continue to build His church and that His will would be done and that He May get all the Glory!

Momentum

I'm very excited about our Launch Team. We are now up to 22 adults and 21 kids (mostly young children). Our Launch Team is very committed and it's awesome to have a team of people that have a heart for Living in and Living out God's love. We are humbled to be used by God to lead such an amazing team of people.

A couple of weeks ago, we partnered with the city of Mishawaka and a couple of other local churches in the community (River Valley and Vineyard) to help work on a home that the city of Mishawaka selected for us. It was cool to be tangible expressions of Christ's body and love. It was exciting to see various churches partnering together for the sake of the Kingdom.

Last weekend our Launch team did a prayer walk over a large section of South Mishawaka. It was incredible to be walking throughout the city and to actually see the needs. Over 46% of South Mishawaka is low income/poverty line. It was moving to walk the streets and to see those first hand (at a slower pace of walking vs. driving) as we sought to look with the eyes of God. Our prayer is that God would touch and bless the hearts and lives of those who are so desperately in need. Also, that we would be Christ to our community. It was an incredible day to be praying the needs that God put before us.

The Launch Team will be meeting again this Sunday for our next session where we will be covering vision, training, values and community. Please pray that God will give us incredible insight and unity as we go into this meeting. In conjunction with our meetings, the Launch Team is reading two books this summer (of which I highly recommend for any church) "Simple Church" & "Jim and Casper go to church." Thanks to the inspiration of the "Jim and Casper" book the launch team is planning to break into smaller groups and set up several dates to visit a variety of churches in order to learn and grow from our experiences. Please pray that God will give us His heart and mind as we consider what it's like for a "new person" to come to our future gatherings.

Thanks for your ongoing prayerful support. Below is a short list of prayer requests that you can pray on our behalf.

• Pray that God will bring more of the "right people" to join our launch team. We have a goal to have 42 adults on our launch team prior to our launch this October.
• Pray that God will solidify where we will be meeting. Our goal is to know this by the end of the month.
• Pray for God's protection on our hearts, minds and family.
• Pray for a heart and mind of unity and focus within our Launch Team.
• Pray for God's blessing and protection to be upon our Lead Team churches in addition to all of our partnering churches.
• Pray that God will give Ann and I wisdom to lead.
• Pray that God will continue to raise up more prayer and financial partners.

Blessed to have you partnering with us!

We’re Growing!

We have officially had our first Launch Team Meeting this last Saturday. We had a great time of building relationships and spent some time praying together. It ended up being a wonderful and inspiring time. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to look around the room and to see the diversity of ages, stages of life, gift mix and passion. Nevertheless we were unified in coming together in order that we may make a difference for the sake of God’s Kingdom as we seek to “Live in and Live out God’s love.” Are team is continuing to grow. We are officially up to 18 adults with several others still considering their potential partnership with us. Ann and I were at Hillside Missionary Church this last Sunday and we had a very warm response from the people there. We had several that indicated an interest in partnering with Epic in some form.

We could use your ongoing prayers for us in the following ways:
• God would continue to bring more of the right people to join the Epic Church Plant. We have a goal of a minimum of 42 adults by Oct.
• God would continue to raise up prayerful and financial supporters.
• God would provide us with a location.
• God would have his hand of protection on all of our launch team members – Emotionally, physically, relationally, spiritually
• God would Ann and I incredible wisdom and discernment beyond our experience and own abilities.
• Epic would be used in a mighty way to impact lives as we remain focused on bringing the love of Christ to those who are far from God. Thanks for your prayers!

And the Journey Continues...

Ann, Caitlin and I have recently returned from a great deal of traveling in the car. We recently returned from a time that served as both a conference and much needed family vacation time in Orlando. As I look at what appears to be a very full summer and fall, we feel very refreshed, equipped and excited for this next leg of the journey with Epic.

I’m excited to say that we have had 11 adults sign on to our launch team at this point and we are thrilled by their partnership. We’re planning to have our first official Launch Team Meeting May 30th. We’re optimistic that there will be even more people joining us to be a part of the Launch Team by then as several more are still taking time to pray and consider. Additionally, Ann and I are planning to be in two more churches this month (Hillside and College Park) where we will be inviting people from these communities to join in partnering with us. Please pray that God will move in the hearts of these people in regards to their partnership and involvement with Epic. Our goal is to have at least 42 adults prior to our launch in October.

On the Financial front, we have a goal to raise a total of $250,000 (over two years). We currently have just over $135,000 that has been pledged and/or received. Please pray that God will continue to provide financially. We want to thank so many of you have pledged and given of your finances. I know that in these economic times it would one might be tempted to “hold back.” Thank you for your courageous faith steps and desire to help advance the Kingdom of God.

We are still in the process of trying to find a location. We have been told that we are able rent one of the schools in South Mishawaka, but only for six months max. This at least gives us an option to launch, and we are certainly grateful for this option. However, we are looking for something that would be more long term, affordable, and able to help us better serve the community. Please continue to pray with us as we seek God’s direction and provision in this matter.

On a more personal note, Ann and I are continuing to build relationships in our neighborhood and community. As I am typing this I’m looking out the back door of my home and noticing that there are 4 more new homes going in behind us. We’re excited about these potential relationships and it’s exciting to think about how God already knows who will be moving into them.

Thank you for your support and partnership with us. Together God will use us to make a difference and to bring honor to His name as we Live in/out His Love!

Jeremy

Launch Team!

Ann and I continue to meet with people who are interested in the church plant in one form or another. We’ve been preaching and sharing at various churches and have had many people indicate a level of interest - whether it be partnering in prayer, finances, periodic tasks/projects or even joining the church by being a part of the lead team. We’re continually being reminded that God is building His church and that we need to be sure to follow His lead.

We have had several informational meetings, with over 70 people from various churches either in attendance or asking for information on the church plant. As people have prayed and begin to count the costs, 22 people have come to our “Next Step” Meetings at this point in time. Out of that group we have had 3 people already commit to being a part of the Launch Team! All of the others remain interested but need more time to pray. We’re planning to hear back from them around the first week in May. In sharing this news with my Church Planting Coach, he seemed very pleased with the initial progress and response from people in the stage that we’re in. Our hope is to have an idea of an initial group to start the Launch Team by May. We’re planning to still have several other opportunities for people to join along the way. I’m planning to preach in two more of our Lead Team churches (College Park & Hillside) in May and we’re hopeful that out of these pools more people will get on board by joining the Launch Team. Please continue to pray that God will move in the hearts of those He has planned to form this Launch Team. Pray that God will give Ann and I wisdom.

In the next few weeks I will be doing a significant amount of traveling. I will be taking part in our Lead Team Retreat with our Lead Team Churches (College Park, Hillside, St. Mark, Sturgis & Wakarusa). Additionally, I will be taking part in the Exponential Church Planting Conference. This is a wonderful opportunity to gain more insight and skills in planting a multiplying church. Please pray that I will learn what God has for Epic and for me during these times at the retreat and conference.

On a personal note, Ann and I are continuing to meet more of our neighbors and people in South Mishawaka and we are enjoying building these relationships and getting to know our neighbors. My daughter has especially enjoyed getting to meet new friends and have other kids to play with (Mom and Dad get a little boring after awhile). Please pray that we will build more friendships and grow the relationships that we have formed. Finally please pray for God’s ongoing protection on our family and for our hearts.

It feels like a snowball is being formed and we’re excited to see how it continues to grow. This will only happen through God leading the way and for your ongoing support. Many thanks for your faithfulness in partnering with us.

Jeremy

Yea God!

We just found out Sunday night that we will have a 5th church joining our lead team.  This is a huge answer to prayer as it helps both financially but also giving us another pool of potential launch team members.  We are thrilled to have Hillside join us and we know that they are going to be a wonderful addition to the team (St. Mark, Wakarusa, College Park & Sturgis).  Hillside took a congregational vote last night and an overwhelming majority voted to move forward and join the lead team - fully recognizing that this will be a sacrifice and faith challenge and yet believing that the Kingdom is worth it!  Ann and I were incredibly moved and encouraged by their faith step!

In some other news, I had the opportunity to preach at Granger Missionary Church yesterday and we were well received.  We appreciated the leadership allowing us to come in and share our hearts with their people and were grateful for several that were interested in partnering with us.

Ann and I are continuing a fast pace season right now as we are continuing to meet with people who are interested in possibly becoming a part of the launch team as well as trying to keep up with several other significant relationships in our neighborhood and area.  We actually have a week off from preaching this week, so were planning to head up to Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan to pay another visit (we have found this church to be an incredible blessing to us).  The "Next Step" Meetings are for anyone who is leaning towards potentially joining the launch team and would like to get to know us better and ask any questions that they might have before making their final decision in whether or not to commit.  These are some very exciting and yet anxious days all at the same time.  Please pray for God to sustain us with His strength, wisdom and discernment.  Also, please pray that God will protect our marriage and family during these very busy times.  I want to be sure to be Christ to Ann and Caitlin in addition to other (not to the exclusion of my family - I want to be sure to keep and intentional healthy balance of both).

Please be praying with us as we seek to try and find a meeting location.  We have some initial options that could get us through the first 6 months but we're continuing to try and find something that will be more long term.  We know God will provide we just want to have discernment to hear from Him!

Below are some significant upcoming dates:

April:

6 - Informational Meeting

7 - Informational Meeting

9 - Next Step Meeting

11 - Next Step Meeting

12 - Sharing at Crossroads Missionary Church

13 - Next Step Meeting

14 - Next Step Meeting

15-16 - Lead Team Retreat

20-23 - Exponential Church Planting Conference (in Orlando)

May:

3 - Preaching at College Park Missionary Church

17 - Preaching at Crossroads Missionary Church

31 - Sharing at Chapel Hill Missionary Church

June:

4-7 - Speak at Wakarusa Missionary Church youth retreat

14 - Share and Preach at Morenci Church of the Nazarene

Busy Times!

Hi Friends,

Ann and I are in the midst of a very fast pace season in life and ministry right now. We are either sharing or preaching at a church most Sundays from now until the middle of June. I’ve spoken at two churches over the last two weeks (St. Mark and Sturgis). Between the two churches we have had 49 people express interest in learning how they could potentially partner with us and/or potentially be a part of the launch team. We’re currently trying to follow up with all of them. I’m planning to preach at Wakarusa this Sunday and I’m hopeful that the Lord will continue to go before us and that there will be a favorable response there as well. Please pray that God will bring the right people to join this team…that they will be obedient to His call and that we will have discerning hearts.

Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day and because everyone was outside, we had the opportunity to meet more of our neighbors. We tried to set up times to have them over and vice versa in order to get to know them better. Ann and I are so grateful for the people and friendships that the Lord continues to put before our path.

Please continue to be praying for us in regards to finding the right meeting place. I’ve made several phone calls and I’ve had many conversations with potential sites. I can tell this is going to be a huge challenge and God is naturally going to have to do the work…again (I should have seen that one coming by now!). Please pray that God will direct our steps and meet our needs in this area.

I can just see God’s hand at work in every area of my life. I’m grateful to have this vantage point and my prayer is that I wont get in the way of what He longs to do in me and through me. Additionally, I see that the Harvest in South Mishawaka seems to be so ripe and I’m excited to think of the ways that God longs to use Epic Church…may His name be glorified as His Kingdom continues to multiply. I recognize that there is an enemy of our souls who is doing everything possible to keep this from happening and so I would ask that you prayerfully do battle with us so that His attacks would fall short and that God’s purposes would be advanced.

Finally, I would ask for you to pray for God’s hand of protection to be on my heart, soul body and mind. I would ask for that same protection to be on Ann and Caitlin as well. We long to run the race in such a way so as to win the prize.

As always, thank you for your prayerful support of Epic Church and us.

Jeremy

God Is Amazing!

Hi Friends,

God is truly amazing! He continues to leave me in a place of childlike wonder as I reflect on who He is. I’m again reminded that Epic is His church and it is His plan, my only role is to be faithful and leave the rest to Him. Yesterday, I received the giving report for Epic. Two families whom I don’t even know have begun giving towards Epic! Additionally there was this church that decided to give over a $1,000. I’d never even heard of them before. As it turns out they had a heart to give towards a church plant and had learned of our ministry through word of mouth.

Ann and I have been working hard to get prepared for this upcoming season. This weekend I begin preaching and sharing at various churches. I’m doing this nearly every weekend until June. I’m also planning to have an informational meeting at most of these churches during the week. These meetings are intended to inform people how they can partner with us as well as to serve as means for recruiting people to be a part of the Lead Team for the church. Yesterday I drove to a place called Blissfield, MI to meet with my coach. We’re doing a considerable amount of traveling these next few months including driving to a church planting conference in Florida. My parents are actually planning to come and watch Caitlin in order that we can still take her and that Ann can join me at the conference (Let’s hear it for grandparents!!). We are looking forward to learning and being better equipped at this conference. We are very excited for the opportunity.

We’re still in the process of trying to find a place for Epic Church to meet. Please keep this, as well as the Lead Team coming together, as high matters of prayer.

Significant Upcoming Dates:

March:

8 – Preaching at St. Mark Missionary Church

11 – Informational Meeting at St. Mark Missionary Church

15 – Preaching at Sturgis Missionary Church

17 – Informational Meeting at Sturgis Missionary Church
22 – Preaching at Wakarusa Missionary Church

25 – Informational Meeting at Wakarusa Missionary Church

29 – Sharing at Granger Missionary Church


29 – (evening) Meeting with Hillside Missionary Church

April:

12 - Sharing at Crossroads Missionary Church
15-16 – Lead Team Retreat

20-23 – Exponential Church Planting Conference (in Orlando)



May:

3 – Preaching at College Park Missionary Church
17 - Preaching at Crossroads Missionary Church
31 – Sharing at Chapel Hill Missionary Church


Prayer Requests:

• For God’s protection over our marriage & Family…these are exciting & challenging days for our family.
• For incredible wisdom and provision as we seek to find a meeting place and recruit the launch team.
• For God to use me to impact lives as I preach at the various churches.
• That God will continue to go before us and meet our needs.
• For safety and good health over these next several months of travel.
  

Update!!

Hi Friends,

I want to share with you some exciting praises and updates and then give you some items to be praying with us.

Praise/Update:

Things are beginning to ramp up. Ann and I have begun to have conversations with people that say that they would be interested in taking the next step to discover if being a part of Epic Church (in some form) is what God has next for them. We’ve had several great conversations over the last month and we’re excited about the potential of what God may choose to do with these people in regards to partnering with Epic.

This week Ann and I went and met with a church up in Michigan and had an awesome time of sharing our hearts and vision with them. I received a phone call from the Sr. Pastor yesterday and he said that their church board unanimously decided to take a major step of faith and send us a $10,000 donation towards the ministry of Epic. Additionally they would like to partner with us and know of any tangible needs that the ministry may have in order that they might be able to help towards those needs as well. This is a giant step of faith for this church in these times and to say that I was humbled and encouraged by them would be a considerable understatement.

Significant Upcoming Dates:

February:
18-19 - Growing Healthy Churches Cluster Meeting (in Columbus, OH)
22 – Share at St. Mark Missionary Church

March:
8 – Preaching at St. Mark Missionary Church
11 – Informational Meeting at St. Mark Missionary Church
15 – Preaching at Sturgis Missionary Church
22 – Preaching at Wakarusa Missionary Church
25 – Informational Meeting at Wakarusa Missionary Church
29 – Sharing at Granger Missionary Church

April:
15-16 – Lead Team Retreat
20-23 – Exponential Church Planting Conference (in Orlando)

May:
3 – Preaching at College Park Missionary Church


Requests:

* Please continue to pray for God to go before us and to provide and give wisdom.

* Please continue to pray for his hand of protection to be on our family. Pray for us physically (Jeremy is currently feeling ill), emotionally and spiritually.

* Please pray for God to bring the people He has for this church and those that are to be on the Launch Team. Pray that we will be wise and incredibly sensitive towards His leading as this is a crucial step towards launching this church.

* Please pray for God to move in the hearts of those we will be speaking to in the near future in regards to a space to be renting.

* Please pray for us as we seek to impact our community and reflect the love, humility and compassion of Christ.

* Please pray for God to give us His words as we continue to share and begin preaching at churches.

Prayer and Praise Update...

"See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.  You also be patient.  Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."  James 5:7-8

Requests:

• Caitlin came down with the flu last night.  Please pray that she gets better quickly.  I'm supposed to leave for a church planting conference in Orlando this Wednesday, please pray that God will keep Ann and I from getting sick while I'm away.  Please pray that my time at the conference will be a very beneficial time.

• Ann and I continue to develop new relationships and are continuing to nurture relationships we have built since moving.  James 5:7-8 has been impressed on my heart - please pray these verses with me.

• We're beginning the very early stages of recruiting the launch team.  We're looking for 45-100 people (ideally) that have hearts like Missionaries to the people of South Mishawaka and match the values and vision of Epic Church that God has put on our hearts.  Please pray for God to go before us and to give us much needed wisdom and discernment as we start this process.

• Please pray for God to continue to provide financially.  This has been extra challenging with the economy.

• Please pray for God's hand of protection to be on our family:  Physically, emotionally, & spiritually.  Pray too that He will continue to meet our needs.
  

Praise:

• Ann, Caitlin and I are grateful for our home and are continuing to get settled and unpacked after living out of suitcase for 4 months.  The time we had with our parents was a wonderful time for Caitlin to bond with her grandparents.  It's really neat to see this... she has 4 awesome grandparents!

• Ann and I have had opportunities to meet some of our neighbors and we're excited to develop these relationships.  One of our neighbors who also just move in, were actually a part of a church plant several years ago... pretty cool!

• Ann and I have had meetings with some churches that are considering partnering with us.  We were encouraged by our times with them and are prayerfully hopeful for their partnership.

• We are continuing to develop relationships with our friends in South Mishawaka and we're just loving these people and our times together.

• Our family and "long time" friends have been an incredible inspiration and encouragement to us.